Friday, January 14, 2011

Blogger Sanjana of KO Rasoi (if you don't read her blog you should!) recently jokingly referred to me as the supreme master of gnocchi. While I certainly wouldn't go so far as to call myself anything close to a master, I certainly do seem to have turned into quite the gnocchi maker of late. This is, after all, the fourth time I've done a gnocchi post. And I have a feeling it won't be the last.

First, I made sweet potato gnocchi with brown butter sage sauce; then came malfatti, lovely quenelles of Swiss chard, after a dish I loved at Al di La Trattoria in Brooklyn; followed most recently by oh-so-light Viennese gnocchi baked in pumpkin cream. And now here we have these little dough balls again for French Fridays with Dorie, the weekly blogger event where members cook a predetermined dish from Dorie Greenspan's book Around My French Table. Yep, me and gnocchi ... we're tight like that.
The funny thing is, none of the gnocchi I've made are anything alike, and Greenspan's gnocchi a la Pariesienne are no exception. Who knew that orbs of starch could be so various in construction? These are made with pate a choux, also known as pastry cream, a mixture of flour, water, butter, salt and eggs. I have certainly worked with pate a choux before to make things like gougeres, but I've never made gnocchi with it. And to be honest, at first I didn't find the results to be promising - they came out of the water rather pale and misshapen. But that didn't matter once they baked in their sauce of bechamel with cheese on top and everything got puffy and bubbly and turned into this:

A word about the bechamel - I found the proportion of flour to butter for the roux as written to be a bit off. I have always used an equal amount of fat to flour when making a roux, but here the amount of flour given was nearly three times that of the butter. It did not compute. So, I ignored that part of the recipe and did it my way, and it worked perfectly. I topped the whole thing with a mixture of Emmenthal and Parmesan. Diet food it's not, but it really hit the spot on a cold winter's day. If you're curious to see how everyone else's dish turned out, please go check out the links. And if you'd like to join the group, just pick up a copy of the book, sign up, and start cooking along - it's totally worth it! Happy French Friday!

28 comments:

Trix, I admit I was dubious when the gnocchi came out of the water too - they looked pretty unappetising. But the dish? Oh my! Funny, my roux worked out ok... Yours looks delish - and yes, it's a huge amount, huh? ;-)

Trixie Girl! You are my Gnocchi Idol! I feared the gnocchi recipe from the moment I saw it in the Dorie list! I knew I'd head over here first thing to see your results--I am, as always, impressed as ever! I also found the flour ratio to be off and did as you, I cut back and I think that helped tremendously. I am so glad you talked me into doing this FFWD--thanks for the confidence boost!

Well Trix, my gnocchi were legendary.. a decade later they were still remembered by a person who ate them... as the worst ever!!! It took me another decade to try them again... this time a beet version and they were perfect! I now feel I can make them and have done many versions including those giant gnudis.... all successful. Your version looks amazing and I have never made them that way... must try for a deliciously rich treat... you did a perfect job and the photo just melted in my mouth! I can imagine the choux would be divine. Merci!

Looks wonderful (if a bit high calorie :-))! I made gnocchi for the first time recently, couldn't believe how easy it was. Would love to hear what you think of it: http://fightthefatfoodie.blogspot.com/2011/01/potato-gnocchi-with-kale-and-mushrooms.html

Absolutely gorgeous! I sat this one out I'm afraid but glad to see you saw the proportion problem here. I'm a bit surprised by it actually given how important this particular sauce is to so many recipes and dishes.

equal fat & flour in roux I think stems from your Cajun instincts.... I'm starring at those pics and trying my darnedest, with my mouth salivating at the same time, to imagine that taste.... must be like manna

Hey Trix! I've noticed all of your gnocchi posts, and they do all look so good. I can understand someone calling you a gnocchi master for sure! This version looks delicious. Ooh, and I probably would have done the same with the bechamel;)p.s. thanks for your sweet advice on my last post too. And I think you are on to something for sure...!

The last time I made Parisienne Gnocchi was in culinary school -- they sure didn't look as good as yours -- we tried to saute them in clarified butter, and they reduced to a kind of goo. It was ugly, and a lot of wasted work.

Yours on the other hand, look pretty marvelous. What everyone's been saying is right -- you are the Gnocchi Queen! I bow to your greatness. ;)Theresa